I still haven't watched most of last night's game (blame Matzah), but a lot of people have been killing Andray Blatche for his performance last night, despite putting up some big numbers.
It says Andray Blatche made 13 of 23 shots, and I promise I'm not piling on because of his (bad) move from last week, but I swear this man takes the worst shots in the NBA at this point. Pargos included. And I'm not overreacting to his missed game-changer down the stretch of this Washington loss. You think he's going to give up on the possession, clearly beat, but ... nope. Still going up.
Andray Blatche's 31 points, 10 rebounds, four steals, three assists and three blocks you say? Well, when you play 41 minutes and receive the ball ALL. THE. TIME. (he took 23 shots) you are supposed to put up those numbers. He still has too much Tin Man in him ... no heart ... especially when it comes to rebounding toughness.
Hell, Blatche himself:
Saunders singled out Blatche, who had his fifth 30-point game since the all-star break. But after his three-point play gave the Wizards an 89-84 lead, he missed his final four shots -- including two in the final 61 seconds, when he admitted to ignoring open teammates. "I got to learn from it," said Blatche, who added 10 rebounds and three assists (all of his assists were in the first half). "I just want to say my teammates did what they was supposed to do. I take full responsibility for the loss. I don't know; I just got to grow from it. I have to show trust in my teammates, be more relaxed and take what's given."
Honestly, a lot of this stuff bugs me, if only because it's only now, when he has literally no other capable teammates, that we're seeing Blatche take bad shots. I also feel like if you're going to bash Blatche for his inability to facilitate ball movement, you should also blame Earl Boykins for his dribbling routine and Mike Miller for forgetting to clear out the side for Blatche, thereby giving him more room to work. (Trust me, it happens a lot. It happened on one key possession down the stretch last night. Miller dumped the ball into Blatche, and instead of then cutting, he stood there, giving Blatche no room to work. It allowed Kyle Lowry to cheat off Miller and still have enough time to recover, thereby discouraging Blatche from dribbling and making a move).
But I also missed a lot of this game, and these are people whose basketball knowledge I respect, so I'm going to open this one up to you all.